The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 02, 1997, Image 1
S F PH TX— " E Overhand smash Not-so-big hits April 2,1997 Nebraska freshman tennis player Sandra Noetzel The new video releases for this week may not is one of the Huskers’ best weapons in her first have done well at the box office, but the quality April Showers , year. She is NtJ’s No. 1 singles player. PAGE 9 makes up for the lack of popularity. PAGE 12 Cloudy, high 63. Showers likely tpnight, low 48. i VOL. 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 keeping th< Fostering Hope Underneath the constant bask of fluores cent lights and nonstop whir of machines, babies have been bom, lived their entire lives and then died in the hospital. Not only were they HIV-positive, they were bom addicted to drugs. Fresh air never reached their lungs, they were rarely touched and never loved — they were, in fact, feared. Jake would have been one of those ba bies, but one woman decided that a life lived in the hospital should be the fate of no child. She turned her back on the security of a high-paying job and has since been spend ing her life savings to be a foster mother for HTV-positive children who were bom ad dicted to drugs. She took Jake, and others like him, into her home. Her gain was getting to love Jake for 14 months; her loss was dealing with a death, which — even though he was HTV-positive — she did not expect. The pain of his death is disproportionate, though, to his effect on her life. “Many people are afraid to love with that Please see BABIES on 3 Photo courtesy of Ann Taylor AM TAYLOR aed her fester sea, Jake, take a boat ride—his first and only. Taylor has taken in eif IBV peiltiweiHilriet end says the |ny of sharhifl their Hm offsets the p*««ef their deaths. Guardian of AIDS babies focuses on life, not on her loss Editor’s note: This week the Daily Nebras kan will focus on the stories of those who grieved over the death of a loved one. Each story shows how family and friends dealt with their grief in different situations. In today’s story, some names have been changed it the request of those inter viewed to honor their privacy. By Erin Schulte Senior Reporter Chambers’ arguments don’t stop Wilson’ bill ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■lliS A «i* By Erin Schulte Senior Reporter A bill that would make killing a police of ficer legally performing his or her duties an ag gravating circumstance in death penalty cases advanced from second-round debate Tuesday. After eight hours of discussion and several unsuccessful attempts by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha to amend the bill, it passed with only Chambers voting against it. The bill also requires that the offender knew or reasonably should have known that the victim was a police officer. LB422 was introduced by Sen. Gerald Matzke of Sidney at the request of Gov. Ben Nelson after the 1995 death of Omaha police officer Jimmy Wilson Jr. Currently, killing a po lice officer is an aggravating circumstances only if the person is in police custody when the kill ing takes place. Nebraska has eight aggravating circum stances for murder cases; the bill would provide the ninth. Aggravating circumstances classify the crime as more severe and therefore punishable by death. During the eight hours of first-round debate, Chambers voiced steady opposition. He gave a repeat performance Tuesday during eight hours of second-round debate, offering several unsuc cessful amendments. One amendment would have declared the Legislature’s opposition to carrying a concealed weapon. Chambers said most police officers are killed with handguns, and LB422 conflicted with an other bill before the Legislature that would al low Nebraskans to have licenses to carry con cealed weapons. “We should not do conflicting, contradictory things,” Chambers said, and said the two bills were “oil and water.” Matzke agreed the two bills were oil and water and challenged the applicability of Cham bers’ amendment to his bill. Chambers’ amend ment was ruled irrelevant to the bill. Chambers argued that many laws are passed Please see DEBATE on 6 ASUN wants students’ opinions considered about where the money will go. - --,. .. 11 11 1 ■ By Erin Gibson Senior Reporter j Changes to and benefits from the university’s imminent beverage contract with either Coke or Pepsi wiH be evident on campus by this faU, a university official said Tuesday. Thanks to the tight-Hpped nature of contract negotiations, most of the contract’s multimillion dollar benefits to the campus must be,kept se cret until die contract is final, said James Main, assistant vice chancellor for business and finance. Main said he could confirm that the univer sity Would receive several million dollars a year for 10 years. Funds have been earmarked for certain cam pus initiatives, he said, and technology improve ments and scholarships remain priorities for spending contract funds. “1*11 be so glad||jjfcen I can go through the whole contract with someone,” he said, because many exciting benefits accompany the contract. “Our students will benefit immensely from this.” Curt Ruwe, ASUN president-elect, said the beverage deal may only be sweet for students if they have an input in budgeting the annual mil lions. Ruwe said Melvin Jones, vice chancellor for business and finance, came to an ASUN meet ing and told senators they would have a lot of say in how the millions gained in the contract would be spent. ASUN members then specified they wanted much of the money to go toward improving cam pus technology, Ruwe said. Now, rumors say much of the money may be already earmarked for scholarships, he said. “It’s very frustrating to me,” Ruwe said. He said he was under the impression that students would have a lot of input. Eric Marintzer, ASUN president, said he had been assured throughout the process that part of the money would go to technology. Please see BEVERAGE on 6 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Vhde Web at http: / / www.unl.edu /DailyNeb